


Raging against the dying of the light

by Buttercuup



Category: Frankenstein & Related Fandoms, Frankenstein (TV 2004), Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bad Parenting, Bittersweet, Character Death, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Hurt, Not Beta Read, Victor Frankenstein Redemption, Violence, alternative ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:55:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26781013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buttercuup/pseuds/Buttercuup
Summary: The atmosphere was suddenly heavy with tension, when from the farthest corner of the cabin, suddenly came the chilling sound of heavy limbs being dragged across the wooden floor. Then, a disembodied voice rippled over Victor’s head, cutting a swathe of silence into the air.“Renouncing so soon, enemy mine?”-On the verge of dying in the middle of the Arctic, Victor Frankenstein is given the opportunity to absolve himself from his own monstrocity.
Relationships: Victor Frankenstein & Frankenstein's Creature, Victor Frankenstein/Elizabeth Lavenza
Comments: 2
Kudos: 37





	Raging against the dying of the light

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there ~ this fandom deserves more fanfics so this is just a quick thing I wanted to do for myself and also to share :)
> 
> I wanted to fix the canon, but I ended up writing something bittersweet oops, my bad.
> 
> Anyways, I'm aware this fandom is not very large; so for those who do read this, I hope you'll like it ;)

**And you, my father, there on the sad height,**  
**Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.**  
**Do not go gentle into that good night.**  
**Rage, rage against the dying of the light.**

**-Dylan Thomas**

* * *

With blue chattering lips and trembling limbs, Victor feebly gaped out the window pane, into the godforsaken wilderness of pristine phantom-white. Outside raged a swirling storm of crying silver, echoing the turmoil of his icy soul. The fever had come fast, robbing him of his strength; leaving him curled up as an infant, shaking and pale on this woeful night among the lacerating winds of the Arctic.

The dying man broke into another a fit of coughs; a high-pitched whistling sound made each time he greedily inhaled short gasps of pain. His chest was rapidly rising and falling, heart hammering as blood pulsed in his ears. Lying still, he warily glared at the oppressing blackness surrounding every nook and cranny of the room, reverently rubbing his fingers along the silken mattress and pressing his burning cheek to the cool, velvet pillows.

The atmosphere was suddenly heavy with tension, when from the farthest corner of the cabin, suddenly came the chilling sound of heavy limbs being dragged across the wooden floor. Then, a disembodied voice rippled over Victor’s head, cutting a swathe of silence into the air.

“Renouncing so soon, enemy mine?”

Victor breath hitched in his throat for a few seconds, and he slightly stirred in his cot plagued with brutal pressure.

A stony shattered visage drew forth from the obscurity; the pale framework of torn skin and muscles underneath marred with abhorrent silvery scars, contrasting starkly against the long luscious charcoal hair which were almost merging with the surrounding canopy of darkness.

“Does your heinous heart no longer seek revenge, _Victor Frankenstein_?”

Two unfathomably deep eyes glimmered in the dusky light, glaring in wonder and hostility at the immovable form lying on the bed - the undertone of loathing glinting ominously in the dingy yellow orbs.

“O Accursed Creator, how truly far you’ve fallen to writhe at my feet with such piteous abandon. Your heart of stone is so deeply woven with resentment, it envenomed your body.”

His words were sharp, dripping with contempt and detestation, and clearly intent on getting a reaction out his maker.

He however got none.

The scientist only response was to stay quiet. In his state of apathy, he had set his weary eyes dead ahead into the cracks on the ceiling, mesmerized by the way the light played on the crevices to create dappled shades. He neither dared to utter a single word nor to look back at the uninvited newcomer.

_“Look at me.”_

Victor didn’t even stir, passively shivering in the humid room.

“Is my appearance so _horrendous_ it would kill you to lay your eyes on me…Don't you even have the decency to acknowledge my presence…? Eyes shining with unshed tears, The Creature hoarsely whispered those words, as though fearing the very air might hear.

All the sudden, fury simmered through him and his dark voice lowered dangerously. “ ** _Do not_ evade my gaze and face me!** Look upon what you engendered!”

At Victor’s passiveness, he aggressively stepped closer to the cot, the moonlight pooling upon his form, revealing his monstrous frame.

“Have you truly learned _nothing_?!” His teeth flashed white as he spitefully hissed. “Mayhap paying the good Captain a visit is in order, presumably then you’ll be more willing to speak to me.”

**_“No!”_ **

That broke Victor out of his stupor, his reaction was instantaneous. He sprung forth, terror flashing in his feverish blue eyes when they locked with watery yellow ones. He took a measured breath, trying not to squirm under the intensity of the Creature’s gaze, rippling over his skin like cold water.

“There is no need for violence; I shall indulge in anything you demand of me.” He rasped out quietly, scarred for his companion’s sake. His arms on the bed keeping balance, were shaking under the effort it took to hold himself in a sitting position.

“Your deceitful words pale into insignificance Frankenstein! I curse the day you gave me birth; your vile deeds cannot be absolved! You had one chance to redeem your transgressions, and yet choose not to. **_You are at fault_**!” He snarled.

A string of harsh coughs shook Victor’s pale and fragile form, leaving him in his former foetal position, weaker than he had thought possible. The breaths he took were entirely too fast and shallow to be normal, still he continued to stare at the other between his eyelashes.

The Creature paused, a quiet look of pity crossing his tortured features.

He slightly backed away, stopping prompt by one of the table, one stitched hand idly resting against it. “I had expected finding you in ill-state would be my blessing,” the wood cracked when his fist uncannily twisted, clenching down on the ancient mahogany table. “Oddly enough, here at the end of everything, I must confess the remaining part of my heart ache at your sorry plight. What a cruel irony to be the very actor of your misery, and still have mercy on your irredeemable soul.”

“If you do pity me, put me out of my misery. Destroy contemplation and sensation at once; but if otherwise, depart and leave me to ponder in darkness.” Victor’s words had no bite as he feebly uttered them.

“ ** _NO!_** You flee from me once, _never again_! I shall not bring you the comfort of dissolution!” Rage seeped through the Creature’s voice swift as cracking thunder, and he turned sharply, face to face with Victor in two long strides. His hands flied to Victor’s throat, applying a firm pressure which was more a warning, then a serious attempt on his life.

“You who denied me of all love when my heart was fashioned to sympathy, it is your fate to be required to bear this torment, for death is a mercy bringing an end to suffering!”

On the verge of tears, the scientist warily stared at the giant towering above him, his pupils glinting, daring him to press down on the fragile expense of skin. They tensely asserted one another; and for an instant, it seemed the Creature was tempted to tighten his hands. Yet, as if burned, he brutally reeled back, his grip slackening as a look of realization dawned on him.

 ** _“T_** ** _hose wrenched hands are the very anathema of virtuousness!”_** He wailed, griping his hair in a painful grip. “Why, _oh why_ did you condemn me to this ruthless suffering?! I am a plague upon Humanity, fetching solely demise and destruction in my wake!”

Victor’s movements were slugged and his muscles were trembling, devoid of any strength.

Clearing his slightly bruised throat, he managed to croak out a reply. “I hold no doubt you despise my very existence; howbeit rest assured, your enmity cannot equal that with which I regard myself.” He let out a shaky breath, knowing his light will soon be extinguished.

“Indeed, I unfortunately cannot unmake the past as you so rightfully put it.” Breathed Victor, as he reached out for his creation, running a thumb over the lingering scars on his cheek with a sorrowful smile tugging the corner of his lips. The Creature flinched at the unexpected contact; shocked to the core by the soft gesture.

The monster’s eyes widened with realization; the delicate fingers were as frigid as his own skin. It now truly struck him how vulnerable his maker looked and how much of a toll the sickness had taken on him.

The hand on his cheek felt limp, like a puppet whose strings had been abruptly cut.

“Father…?”

_Father._

Gone was the terrific monster, the abomination; at this exact moment, he looked like a lost child, clutching the cooling body of his creator with despair as if it was a raft in the middle of a stormy ocean. The golden orbs boring into the clearer ones were torn by a myriad of conflicting emotions; loathing, admiration, regret, sorrow were dancing in his teary gaze.

“…B-But if you could find it in your heart to forgive me for the cruelty I inflicted upon you… We would have been able to start anew and rectify my aberrations. That I believe. Unfortunately, such a reality is mere phantasm, for I fret to be on the verge of my passing.” His voice lacked bitterness as he uttered the terrible truth. He sounded truthful, calm and composed, accepting his fate for what it was.

After hearing those words, the grip on Victor suddenly painfully tightened, as something akin to fear lit the dull yellow eyes, with a brand-new glow.

Only half conscious by this point, Victor stared in wonder at those pupils, now genuinely remarking how alluring the color was. It reminded him of springtime in their country house in Geneva: his beloved Elizabeth sweetly humming beside him as the pleasant warmth of sunlight brightly shone through a window to warm up a patch of the intricate carpet.

_Home._

He closed his eyes, welcoming the gentle embrace of eternal sleep with a serene smile gracing his lips. He could hear the distant echoes of past voices on my mind, but the rest of the world didn’t matter anymore except for the faint beating of his heart and what sounded like silent cries; nothing less, nothing more.

_He was safe._

“...I deeply regret, forgive me...for everything.”

Bitter trails of tears trickled down the Creature’s ghastly face, clinging to Victor’s cheeks similarly to morning dew.

The room was quiet. Quiet as a grave. Yet, somehow the air felt warmer, alight with the sympathy of forgiveness. 

“Receive my embrace as a pledge of my absolution, Victor Frankenstein. Let us be monsters, inseparably bound to ruin and decay as the mask of Janus.”

The Creature carefully cradled the limp body to his chest, as if it would make the world and its afflictions vanish into thin air; and for the last time, he let the cold tundras of the Artic dry out his tears.

-

_I forgive you._

* * *

When Robert Walton returned to his cabin, a gush of ice and wind screeching like a howl, came rushing through the open window, blowing a cold breeze on his face. His guest was oddly nowhere in sights, the cot empty of his presence.

Panicked and puzzled, he peered at the vast whiteness of the barren land and he could have sworn the giant figure of a man disappeared into the powder-white blizzard at inhuman speed. However, neither his friend, nor the dark silhouette were ever seen again.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't hesitate to leave comments and kudos, it's always appreciated ;)


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